Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I want to draw attention to figures on self-harm. Over 40% of the 12,000 who turned up in the accident and emergency departments after self-harming had alcohol in their system. If a person is feeling depressed or vulnerable, or has problems, as Senator Zappone stated, such as sexual orientation problems, or is worried about losing his or her job or whatever, and if the person drinks excessive alcohol, he or she will feel worse and will not be able to get himself or herself out of this depressing situation.

As has been stated by colleagues, four or five times more people die from suicide than road accidents. It is on the political radar. We have got the number of road deaths down. I would put much of that down, along with Mr. Brett, to Mr. Gay Byrne as a leader in society who demanded money for road safety to improve the figures of those surviving road accidents. We have developed the awareness that one should not drink and drive because of how dangerous it is. We must get the message out there that one may enjoy alcohol but one should treat it carefully.

It is a serous issue. In my document, I drew attention to three areas that have been internationally proven as indicators of reduction in suicide. The first was reducing alcohol consumption. The second was training of general practitioners, GPs, in identifying depression when they meet it. The other one was restricting access to lethal means. On the point about GPs, when I was doing my research I met families who told me that they brought family members with mental problems who were feeling depressed, particularly young men, to GPs and the doctors said they would be all right, and they subsequently died from suicide. General practitioners are not up to scratch on identifying serious potential suicide or self-harming, or they are not up to date on adequate treatment.

I would make a final point on the issue of social exclusion.